Good evening friends! Also, a special hello to those who found me via So Good, color me flattered for mentioning me in their blog! When I heard that Oreo had planned on releasing a lemon Oreo, I knew I had to get on that. Sadly I couldn’t find them anywhere! I finally came to the acceptance that they would slip though my fingers and I would never be able to taste this possibly delicious flavor. But despite my admission of defeat, it never stopped me from looking at every grocery store I stepped foot into – that makes me sound like I go to the grocery store a lot, but I don’t. Last night while procuring some fruit snacks at SaveMart, I spotted these on a sidecap. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t jump about 3 feet into the air with excitement. Yes I have a problem.

I am not overly sure what I envisioned these to taste like aside from the fact that I knew Oreo wouldn’t let me down. So far with all of the different flavors that I have tried, I don’t care for the peanut butter filling or the Berry Blast flavor. I am also not the biggest fan of golden Oreos, but the thought of a chocolate cookie plus lemon creme doesn’t sound appealing in the slightest, despite my affinity for mixing weird foods.

Can I just say that I find Oreos packing a mixture of genius and frustration? I really wish Keebler would get on this packaging tip. I like that all of the Oreos are laid out before you, ready for consumption, but I dislike that some get tucked in the corners and make it a little tough to procure. #snackfoodproblems I guess.

When I peeled back the flap on top of the package of Oreos, I was greeted with the smell of a buttery cookie mixed with the light scent of lemon. It was not overpowering at all. I found the creme in these to be a little more on the squishy side vs. a regular Oreo, but thats OK because I like to pop my Oreos open and eat the creme first. I don’t know if its the consistency of the creme or if I have perfected some sort of patent worthy maneuver of removing cookie creme, but you can’t really lick th creme off, as it pretty much sides off in one piece.

I really wanted to like these, and I do, but I don’t feel that Oreo brought anything new to the table with these. They pretty much tasted like any other lemon creme cookie that you can find on your local supermarket shelf, and the only thing that sets them apart is the Oreo brand name. Womp womp.

Texture: 4/5 –The creme inside of these cookies has the familiar texture of Oreo creme (powdered sugar mixed with lard, sorry to burst anyones bubble on that one) Coupled with the cookie, it makes for a nice mixture of crunch and creamy. Yum!

Smell: 5/5 – These things smell very good. I am a huge fan of lemon flavored foods (lemon candies, Vitamin water, cookies, etc) and the smell of these match the flavor.

Appearance: 4/5 – I think it would be cool if Oreo came up with some sort of limited edition stamp to use on their cookies, kind of like what they did for the birthday cake flavor. That way you can wave these around in your friends face who may or may not care that you are eating limited edition Oreos. They do look pretty much like regular golden Oreos though.

Taste: 3/5 – I give these a middle of the road rating, not because they are not good, but because they are nothing new. If you can find them, try them, if you can’t, just buy some lemon sandwich cookies, write OREO on the outside and chow down. Your brain will never know the difference.

Guess what internet! I have… internet at home again! This is beyond exciting. For those of you that don’t know, I have been solely blogging via my phone since this website started, and lets just say that it has been quite the challenge. I had plans to review something else today, but I saw these while at Target and knew immediately that I had to try them.

Like with most things in the food world, the picture on the outside drew me in. I have sampled the other flavors, but have never seen these before. They looked like the perfect balance of mint flavored white chocolate, sprinkled with cute little chocolate chips – how could you go wrong? I am an avid mint lover, York Peppermint Patties are one of my favorite candies of all time, and I think we all know my love of pretzels from the Milano review. The two of these together, sounds absolutely delicious! I imagine that they would taste like dipping a regular pretzel crisp into a bowl of mint chip ice cream! MMMmmmm!

Then I was greeted with this. What in the world is this atrocity. This looks nothing like the picture! Don’t adjust your monitor folks, they really are that weird shade of greenbrown… browngreen… brogren.. grebown… whatever. Not the most appealing color if you ask me. But despite the off-putting color choice, I decided to dive right in. I’m just going to say it. They are SO GOOD. Exactly like dipping a lightly salted pretzel into a bowl of mint chip ice cream. It is the perfect amount of crunch plus a little salt, plus a nice non fake tasting mint, finished off with a little milk chocolate. Heaven in a bag I say. The only down point to these? They are a small bag and will run you a whopping $3.00. Definitely a bit of a rip off considering most of the bag is air.

Texture: 4/5 -The white chocolate they use is nice and smooth. The pretzel is still surprisingly crunchy and crispy despite being completely encased.

Smell: 5/5 – To quote one of my favorite bands – these smelled just like heaven. Upon opening the bag you are greeted with the delicious smell of mint, but not completely overpowering.

Appearance: 2/5 – I was definitely not expecting these to look the way they did based on the picture on the outside of the bag. The weird color mixture is a bit weird to look at, and there are not nearly as many chocolate chips as the front picture would lead you to believe.

Taste: 4/5 – These are good – REALLY good. It would be very easy to eat all of these at one time. I like them better than the chocolate peppermint pretzel crisps and the white chocolate peppermint crisps by far. I would buy these again, but I would wait for them to be on sale.

Good evening foodies! I do apologize for the late post today, but I was out at the biggest Halloween party in Sacramento last night as part of the medical staff on hand, and didn’t roll into bed until 4:30 this morning. To add insult to injury, I woke up with a lovely migraine to boot. Luckily I’m feeling better and can bring you a brand spankin’ new review.

Apparently it was go nuts week with nut manufacturers. This week I have sampled more flavors of nuts that I have ever tasted in my entire life. This is starting to sound pornographic. Anywho, I knew I had to try the Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter and Peanut Butter & Jelly Sweet & Salty mixes from Emerald because I know they are destined for the clearance aisles. I have been a cashew lover my whole life, followed closely by my love of peanuts. It wasn’t until this past year that I started to enjoy almonds, and I must admit, pecans are not so tasty in my book. It wasn’t until I got to my car after picking these up at Target that I noticed that the Dark Chocolate & Peanut Butter mix had pecans in it. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about trying the pecans. But what would a review be if I skipped over part of it?!

First up are the Peanut Butter & Jelly. I definitely had my apprehensions about this flavor. The picture of the fruit coated almond on the front looked more gelatinous than coated, which I was convinced I was going to be bitting some sort squishy coated almond. Yuck. I also thought for sure that the regular almonds in the mix would have the peanut butter flavor incorporated, but they did not. There are 3 different nuts in this mix:

• Honey Roasted Peanuts – I LOVE honey roasted peanuts, especially the Frito-Lay brand that you can get 2/$1. I was excited to try the peanuts in this mix but honestly I missed the honey roasted taste. If anything they were just candied and brought a little sweetness to the peanut flavor.

• Plain Almonds – I thought for sure that the plain almonds would be where Emerald brought in the salty factor, but they were completely plain. I’m not overly sure what their purpose in this mix was supposed to serve. If I want plain almonds, I will just buy them.

• Fruit Coated Almonds – The moment of truth, fruit coated almonds. They actually had a hard candy exterior, not a jelly like one that I was concerned about. The first one I tasted was not good. I tried a few more and decided I thought they were rather uninspiring. I feel the fruit flavor is really lacking and all you get is a crunch from the candy and a mild tart flavor from what I’m assuming is raspberry.

One of these things is not like the other!

Now for an entire handful all together. Meh. I can see what they are trying to do, but I feel like they fell a little short. Better luck next time with these, Emerald.

Now onto the Dark Chocolate & Peanut Butter Sweet & Salty mix. This flavor profile seemed a lot safer than the other. Honestly I think Emerald should have lead with this one, then introduced the PB&J later, like some sort of series. Peanut butter and chocolate were meant for each other, I don’t care what anyone says. These also contain 3 different nuts.

• Honey Roasted Peanuts – see above! 🙂 Though I feel that they work better in this mix.

• Peanut Butter Pecans – The flavoring on these are a bit inconsistent. They taste like candied brown sugar and peanut butter. They are SO delicious.

First off I would like to say hello! to all the people that have visited my humble little junk food blog from The Impulsive Buy! What an honor to be linked from their blog 🙂 hopefully I don’t disappoint.

Pepperidge Farms Milano Slices – Salted Pretzel. Let’s just let that sink in for a minute. Go ahead, dream about unicorns flying around in cotton candy clouds above the Pepperidge Farms factory as the clouds rain down deliciousness. Okay, back yet? So I must confess, I love sweet and salty snack foods. I may or may not have dipped potato chips into frosting, cinnamon twists from Taco Bell into their nacho cheese (that sounds really sick, but from the egging on of my old roommate I tried it and it was DELICIOUS), so on and so forth. I would also have to say that pretzels are probably one of my favorite snacks. Pretzels + cookies?! Yes please!

I spotted these on another food blog (sadly I can’t remember which) and knew I had to try them. I looked at all the usual places, Walmart, Target, Safeway, etc., but to my surprise I was only able to spot them at Walgreens. Not my first stop for cookies, but I’ll take it.

Now I don’t understand why Pepperidge Farms even bothers putting portion sizes on their nutritional facts. Anyone with a decent set of tastebuds knows that a bag of Pepperidge Farms cookies is one serving. I’m convinced they sprinkle crack into these things.

Behold. No, you are not looking at a sample of Miracle Grow. The picture on the bag clearly does not show how much salt are on these things. I thought the salt would be on the pretzel, not sprinkled all over the cookie. I tried these two different ways. First I put a cookie in my mouth chocolate side up. It was the familiar taste of a delicious light cookie and dark chocolate, mixed with a nice crunch from the pretzel and a undertone of salt. The salt was a bit overpowering but not to the point where I wouldn’t finish the bag. The second way I tried them, I put the cookie in my mouth chocolate side down. Holy salt lick Batman. Way too salty. It was like someone salted the fries at your favorite fast food place, couldn’t remember if they salted them, and then salted them again salty.

So, Protip: chocolate side up friends!

Texture: 4/5 – I enjoyed the crunch that the pretzel provided to this classic cookie, or maybe it was the salt that made it crunchy.

Smell: 3/5 – Upon opening the bag you could smell the delicious dark chocolate and buttery cookies.

Appearance: 3/5 – I can’t say that these are the most aesthetically pleasing cookie to look at, but you can definitely see what you’re getting into. The picture on the bag and the actual product vary.

Taste: 3.5/5 – These are pretty tasty, if you eat them chocolate side up or if you REALLY love salt. I would buy these again, but don’t give them to your friends that have high blood pressure.

Happy Friday all! I am not overly sure if these are new, or if I have never seen them before, but I spotted these and another flavor I shall be reviewing soon at the local SaveMart. (Upon quick googling, it looks like they came out in 2010, but I have not seen them until now) I am head over heels for Stacy’s Pita Chips. They are so delicious by themselves or with some sort of dip, and I can easily eat an entire bag and not feel bad about it. I also had no interest in sharing these with anyone else, so you may want to buy two bags incase you have someone at home that would like to sample them as well.

Upon opening the bag I was greeted with the familiar pita chip smell accompanied by the aroma of peppers. I am definitely a fan of flavors being baked into chips instead of coating them. I did not however notice much onion flavoring as pictured on the outside of the bag. The flavoring of these is rather strong, especially the peppers. I really enjoyed these and had to stop myself from eating the entire bag. All of the chips in the bag were evenly flavored which is also very enjoyable.

Texture: 4/5 – If you have brittle teeth you may want to avoid these, because they are twice baked they tend to be on the extreme crunchy side. I would also advise enjoying these with a beverage if you are eating them alone, as they can be a bit dry.

Smell: 4/5 – These smell just as tasty as they are right out of the bag.

Appearance: 3/5 – I am unsure if perhaps the merchandiser at the store I purchased them from kicked them down the entire aisle before putting them on the shelf, but sadly most of my bag was made up of tiny chip-shards. There were a few large ones, but mostly small little handfuls of pita bits. It is also exceptionally obvious that the flavor is baked in – YUM.

Taste: 5/5 – These are good. REALLY good. If you are looking for a hardy chip to put out at a party that you can get some serious dip action on, I would suggest these. BUY THEM.

While wandering the aisles of Walmart late the other night, I spotted this amongst the planogram reset they were completing down their seasonal food aisles. I forgave them a little for this gem, despite getting my hopes up by hanging a sign over the Pringles that said ‘pumpkin’. Needless to say I rifled through all of the cans of Pringles looking for the pumpkin flavor, but then realized they had handwritten signs along all the lines of shelving for where their Thanksgiving products were going – DOH. I love all things peppermint. LOVE. So I had high hopes for this snack mix.

I have tried the original Muddy Buddies from Chex Mix, and I don’t care for them. As most food, homemade Muddy Buddies are far superior. I’ve never heard of or thought of a peppermint Muddy Buddy though. Delicious idea! Upon opening the bag I was greeted with a very strong peppermint smell. MMMmmmmm… I was half expecting it to be a melted mess inside. When I think peppermint bark, I think of mass quantities of white chocolate, but to my surprise, not a mess at all. Instead of actual white chocolate, its more of a white peppermint powder.

I popped a handful in my mouth and was greeted with a lovely peppermint flavor but was surprised to crunch down and find a corn Chex inside. I think my Chex of choice would have been rice. But after a few more handfuls, I couldn’t stop myself. I felt like a shark in a feeding frenzy. This stuff is adictingly good. Yeah I just made that word up, but whatever – making up new words is a sign of genius. The only downfall from enjoying this delicious treat is the mass quantities of white powder. Your face will look like you either didn’t wipe your mouth after brushing your teeth, or you just did a bunch of cocaine. Your fingers will be coated as well, but much like Cheetos, part of the appeal is licking your fingers clean, duh.

Texture: 4/5 – I enjoy that they chose a powder vs. actual white chocolate on these as they make them much easier to eat large quantities of. The texture is nice and does not taste gritty from the powder and the crunch of the Chex is perfect.

Smell: 5/5 – These smell just as good as they taste. Delicious!

Appearance: 4/5 – These Chex are caked with the peppermint powder, so there is no mistaking that the flavor will be strong.

Taste: 5/5 – If you like Chex and peppermint, these babies are for you. They are a nice balance of peppermint, not overpowering like a bag of corn Chex coated in Altoids. I honestly could (and probably will) kill this entire bag in one sitting, so note to self, stock up before you can’t find it anymore. I also think a chocolate peppermint version would be very good. Almost like a Thin Mint. In short, try them! You will probably like them… or love them like I did.

I was surprised to see a new flavor of Little Bites that were not holiday themed. I sampled the pumpkin flavored ones, which I thought tasted a smidge like soap. I don’t know if that makes sense, but that’s okay. I really enjoy snicker doodle cookies, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, cinnamon and sugar on toast, and coffee cake, so I figured these couldn’t be that bad.

I was a bit surprised to open the package and see just four of these little guys staring back at me. They are about the size of a small donut hole and smell delicious. From my previous experience with the pumpkin flavor and the classic blueberry flavor, I knew that these were going to be moist. I don’t know if its intended that they be almost on the “I just undercooked these muffins and they are a little doughy/gooey” side or if its because they are trapped inside of thick plastic that keeps them from drying out, but these were moist as expected. They have the overall taste of cinnamon and sugar baked through, but also have small little crunchy pieces (really small) baked in as well. I must say the outsides of the muffins were a tad dry, but it didn’t ruin the overall flavor or texture. I think these would be a nice compliment to a cup of coffee or hot chocolate.

Texture: 4/5 – These had the moist texture of a fresh baked muffin. The outside was a little dry, but overall appealing.

Smell: 4/4 – Upon opening the package, I got a nice waft of sweetness and cinnamon.

Appearance: 3/5 – I was disappointed at how few were in the bag. I think I would have felt less ripped off if the bag was smaller. The overall exterior was inviting, though upon first glance I was unsure if they were supposed to be spotty as the picture on the box showed otherwise.

Taste: 4/5 – I enjoyed these and would venture to say that of the flavors I have tasted these have been my favorite. I think they stand well alone as a quick breakfast or lunch dessert and would also be a nice compliment to a hot beverage. Overall I really liked them.

Today on spoilyourdinner.com I delve into the Unjunked Candy realm. I honestly don’t care for confectionery treats that attempt to be healthy items. The whole point of eating candy is to treat yourself and enjoy something delicious I say! I spotted these at my local CVS along with some other Unjunked items that I will be reviewing over the next week or so as I try them. I figured I would start with the most harmless and classic flavor, candy coated chocolates. Many companies have done this, M&M’s (most notable), Sixlets, Smarties (outside of the USA), etc. Unjunked boasts that their candies have no corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, artificial ingredients, gmos, preservatives, and are low on the glycemic index.

As you can see from the candy colors, they are definitely trying to compete with those of M & M’s, though there is something a little weird when eating a magenta or mustard colored candy, it doesn’t sit right in my brain. It’s kind of like the green and purple ketchup that Heitz released a long time ago that tasted just the same, but your brain was in full on trickery mode because of the color change. The portion size is also considerably smaller compared to a bag of M&M’s as well as the price difference. I can usually pick up a bag of plain M&M’s for about 90 cents to a dollar, and these will run you about $1.70.

I was excited to try these, expecting a nice milk chocolate flavor, and was greated with a flavor, I honestly can’t pinpoint. I actually spent the entire weekend trying to pick out where I had tasted this flavor of chocolate before, but alas, I come up empty handed. I would say its a bit in the middle between milk and dark chocolate? Not bitter per say, but there is just something slightly off in the flavor for me. I was ready to toss them after about 10 candies or so, but I figured I would finish the small handful of a bag hoping that maybe the flavor would grow on me – it didn’t. Now had I never tried a M&M in my life, I would probably like these, but with every bite, I just kept longing for that delicious milk chocolate flavor. If a friend put out a large bowl of these at a party and I took a handful thinking I was going to enjoy some delicious fall?? colored M&Ms and got these instead, well lets just say, I wouldn’t be friends with that person anymore. I’m kidding. But I would bring a bag of M&Ms to the next party, for sure.

Texture: 4/5 – These have a crunchy candy shell and smooth chocolate on the outside.

Smell: 4/5 – They did not have much of a smell, but you could definitely pick up the chocolate scent in the bag.

Appearance: 3/5 -The colors they chose, which I assume were all naturally occurring colors from plant dyes, etc. were rather odd. I would have rather just had a bag of brown candies, but I can see how that would lose its appeal to some.

Taste: 2/5 – I did not enjoy these, though I can see how they would possibly appeal to those who enjoy eating more health conscious chocolate, where they are potentially used to the flavoring. There was something off to me about the chocolate taste. I would not buy these again.

Raise your hand if you are tired of pumpkin flavored items yet? I am not one of those people. They could honestly make pumpkin flavored water and I would most likely drink it (that sounds really gross by the way, so don’t get any ideas food companies!) I spotted these English muffins at my local Walmart and had to give them a try. Apparently they were available last year, but I never had the opportunity to try them. I really love anything bread, and I think that if I had to choose one item to eat for the rest of my life, it would be a tough choice between chips and bread. I also like my bread lightly toasted (contrary to my mother, who enjoys her bread toasted to the point of cremation) I will literally hover over the toaster checking to see how brown the toast is getting. Now I sound like a crazy person. Anywho – the muffins!

These had all the features of a regular English muffin. Odd shape, crumbs all over the bottom that get EVERYWHERE when eating them anywhere except standing over the trashcan or sink, nooks and crannies (remember those commercials?), and delicious flavor. I honestly failed to taste the pumpkin flavoring in these. I could definitely pick up the spices in pumpkin items. They mostly tasted like a regular English muffin with nutmeg and a hint of cinnamon added. I would enjoy these year round as an alternative if they offered them. Despite the claim of real pumpkin on the packaging, I’m still searching.

Texture: 4/5 – These have the same texture as a regular English muffin – with a small exception of small mushy spots where I think is the possible pumpkin that I am not tasting.

Smell: 4/5 – These babies smell delicious! But I also love the smell of ‘fall flavors’.

Appearance: 4/5 -These could easily be confused for wheat English muffins had I not seen the outside labeling. Nothing special about them, though I still hate the crumblies on the bottom that get everywhere.

Taste: 3/5 – I am disappointed at the lack of full pumpkin flavor – If you like your English muffins with a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon, you will really enjoy these. I would eat them again.